This invention relates generally to an apparatus for attaching a trailer to a vehicle.
For a long time, people have sought to increase their capacity to transport people and objects. This desire, and solutions to address it, significantly predates mechanized vehicles and involved technology such as wagons and travois. Trailers are commonplace and increase the amount which can be transported while decreasing the ground pressure by spreading the weight over a greater number of wheels and surface area. For example, a trailer having a gross weight in excess of a few tons may be configured to have a tongue weight of a few hundred pounds thus greatly easing transport.
There are a number of conventional mechanisms for attaching vehicles to trailers. These mechanisms include, but are not limited to, a tow ball, a three point hitch, a pintle hook, a draw bar, and a goose neck. Each mechanism has certain advantages. Desirable features in vehicle-trailer attachment mechanisms include, without limitation, low weight, high strength, weight transfer to an advantageous location, and a high degree of rotational freedom.